Microsoft is currently the subject of an investigation by the European Commission concerning the integration of Internet Explorer in Windows to get the most out of your internet. Following the complaint of Opera, publisher of the eponymous browser, Brussels is trying to determine whether the practices of Microsoft harm competition.
To offer more freedom to users in their choice of browser, the European Commission intends in particular to ask the manufacturers to offer multiple applications.
Microsoft might try to influence manufacturers and Microsoft Intenet Explorer 8 : Flooded with complaints
According to Bloomberg, the manufacturers have received a questionnaire of nine questions on, inter alia, the Mariners to take into account and how to offer users the freedom of choice.
This choice could be made from a screen with several browsers in the market. The software would be preloaded on the PC or downloaded from a link on the selection screen.
But the question of the method is not the only interest the European Commission. In its questionnaire, it also contains three other questions intended to highlight potential pressure on Microsoft to PC manufacturers.
The European executive wants to find out if the publisher has contacted vendors to influence their position on how to propose several browsers on their computers. Questionnaires should be returned by Friday 12 June.
For Internet Browser support and fix you can visit Microsoft Support Available with Microsoft Certified Professionals.
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Thursday, June 11, 2009
Tying: Brussels wants to know if Microsoft is putting pressure on manufacturers
Monday, June 8, 2009
Forrester: Microsoft Office in no danger from competitors
Microsoft Office is still the most prevalent productivity suite among enterprise customers, but 2010 could see more adoption of competitive suites as companies ponder their next investments in this area, according to a report by Forrester Research.
Eighty percent of enterprise customers are still using some version of Microsoft Office for worker productivity and collaboration, with only 8% using alternatives, which include Sun StarOffice, Google Premier Apps, Lotus Symphony and Zoho, according to the report by Forrester analyst Sheri McLeish. The report polled 152 IT decision makers.
"Basically, the bottom line is Microsoft Office is really quite entrenched in the global large business organization today," she said in an interview today.
Microsoft's technical support is winding down for both Office 2000 and Office 2003, and the roughly 20% of companies that support some version of Office but still have not moved to the current version, Office 2007, will have a decision to make in the coming year, McLeish said.
When the recession hit, companies considered their choices of productivity applications as an area where they could cut corners, she said. In 2010, depending on the economy, companies will likely start to make plans for either upgrading to Office 2010 or choosing an alternative.
Microsoft isn't planning to release Office 2010 until sometime in the first half of next year, giving competitors a chance to gain headway with enterprise customers, she said. "Given they were dragging their feet, coupled with the soured economy, it's time for them to make some choices about the future," McLeish said.
If the economy improves, Office 2010 will be a likely choice for many, she said. However, since companies don't need all of the complex functionality that Office provides, some may choose to transition from Office 2000 or 2003 to a less expensive alternative.
Still, interoperability with Office remains a key factor -- because of its long history, enterprises "won't be able to completely remove Microsoft Office from the business," McLeish said.
Google's recently introduced Wave application, which combines e-mail, IM, blogging, photo management, wikis and document sharing, could possibly become a compelling option, particularly if Google were to tie that functionality into its Google Apps suite, she added.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Vista's gains are down since Microsoft released Windows 7 beta and RC
Windows Vista's market share growth has slowed since Microsoft released public versions of Vista's successor, Windows 7, according to data published 1st June by Web metrics company Net Applications.
For the fourth month in a row, Vista's gains in May were lower than its 12-month average. That stretch coincides with the availability of Windows 7 beta in mid-January, and with the one-and-only "release candidate" issued early last month.
Although Vista has consistently posted increases since it was released -- almost exclusively at the expense of the aging Windows XP -- the size of those gains has fluctuated. During 2008, for example, Vista grew, on average, by 0.9 of a percentage point each month.
In the four full months since Windows 7 was issued to the public, however, Vista's gains have averaged just 0.5 of a point, a little over half as much.
By Net Applications' data, Windows Vista was the operating system used by 24.4% of the machines that connected to one of the 40,000-plus sites it monitors for clients, an increase of 0.45 of a percentage point over the previous month. The months before that, Vista increased 0.48 of a point (April), 0.63 (March) and 0.31 (February).
Windows 7, meanwhile, grabbed 0.42% of the market in May, an increase of 0.18 of a percentage point that translated into a month-to-month growth rate of 75%. The jump was likely caused by the May 4 delivery of the Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC).
Vista's smaller-than-usual gains in 2009 were at times dramatically down from the increases during the same months last year, illustrating the slowing uptake of the two-year-old operating system. February 2009's increase was off by 67% from February 2008, while May 2009's gain was down 36% from the same month last year.
The numbers shouldn't be a surprise. Reviews of Windows 7 have generally been positive, and an April poll claimed that corporate beta testers were four times more likely to be "very satisfied" with the beta than were early users of Windows Vista.
At the same time Vista's growth has slowed, so has the pace of Windows XP's decline, hinting that users are tightening their grip on the old-but-still-loved OS. Last month, for example, Windows XP's share dropped by 0.67 of a percentage point, to 61.5%, a significantly smaller fall-off than either the 12-month average of 0.88 of a percentage point or XP's loss of 0.95 of a percentage point in May 2008.
But not everything associated with Windows 7 was good news last month. While Net Applications noted the near-doubling of the preview's market share during May, analysis of the month's data showed that uptake progressively slowed as the weeks went by.
